Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-11
CURIOUS TELEPHONES.
Two Of Them which Puzzled the Tele
phone ExDerts-New Method Intro.
duced for, Eliminating Induction.
Possibilities of the Telephone Service-A
Mint for the Man that Oan
Discover the Secret.

telephone has noticed that he could otter
hear other conversation passing over
other wires, and telegraph instruments
clicking in such vast numbers that the
result would be g perfect clstter that is
frequently so loud as to be very annoy
ing. 1t is caused by electric currents in
Quoted in the wire by other currents IN
other wires passing near it. The wires
need not be in contact, only in proximity
with each other.
It is generally known that if the wire
could be carried from one telephone to
the other, and then back to the starting
point, that this troublesome induction
would be entirely obviated, for the in.
Quoted currents would be equally strong
in all parts of the wire, and as they
would oppose each other, they would
both be destroyed.
A double wire Is, however, rather eXpen-
sive, and the new apparatus saves this
extra expense. The new apparatus is a
very ingenious arrangement of inductive
coils located at the terminal offices, by
which two sets of instruments can be
used simultaneously on two wires. 1t is,
in fact, duplex telephony, although it is
necessary to have two wires and each is
dupleXed. Two conversations are carried
over two wires, and q part of each con-
Versation goes over each wire. The con-
versations are reported at the coils and
each goes to its proper telephone without
interference from the other.
When currents from other wires are in
Quoted in this telephone circuit, they flow
entirely around it, meet and neutraliZe
each other, and thus conversation is IN
impeded by them,
In speaking of the prospects of improv-
ing the telephone, Mr.. W. W Smith, the
manager for the telephone company,
said:
"There is probably one simple adjust
ment that can be made in the telephone
which would increase their power enor-
mously, but no one has BEEN able to dis
cover this simple adjustment, although
there is a fortune for whoever does I
say it is simple adjustment, merely be-
cause believe it will be found to be so,
but 1 can't guess what it is"
"When the telephone was first used"
he continued, "we had no transmitter,
but the receiving instrument was the
same as the sending instrument; you had
to put it to your ear to listen to it, and
then shift it TO your mouth to talk
through it. Well, when we began to put
transmitters in and to charge extra price
for their use, there was one man in San
dusky, O., who objected and sent word TO
the office that the transmltter was of no
use whatever 20 him, and that he did
not propose to pay for it.
EIt was supposed that something was
wrong with the transmitter, but on in
Quiry il was found that this subscriber
never put the telephone to his ear st all.
He would hold it about six inches from
his mouth IN speaking, and the telephone
would reply so loudly that he never
moved it when he listened. Of course
this remarkable fact caused some stir in
the Sandusky circuit, and it was reported
to the general office of the Bell Telephone
Company in Boston, and instructions
were at once received to procure the
telephone and forward il to Boston.
This proved q little difficult, for the
subscriber refused to give it up, and con-
siderable time was spent fnanciering
with him. At last special agent of the
company was dispatched to SanduskY for
the express purpose of obtaining this
telephone, which he finally did.
at was taken to Boston, all kinds of
experiments tried on it by the most &C.
complished experts in telephone science,
and the telephone responded as it had in
Sandusky. Then it was very slowly and
very carefully taken apart, and the rela-
tive distance of the various parts from
each other was measured as closely as
possible. The minutest examination
failed to show anything peculiar about
that telephone, and so far as could be as
certained, it was made of precisely the
same materials and i'm precisely the same
way that all other telephones were made.
"Then the telephone was put together
exactly the same way that it had been
taken apart, and to the best of expert
knowledge and belief 1t was in exactly
the same condition that it was when it
arrived from Sandusky. But It's wonder
full power was gone; no experiment that
could be tried brought back the volume
of sound that it had previously given out,
and it had become merely a common tele-
phone that had to be held to the ear to be
of any service.
"Some years afterWard," continued
Mr. Smith, ga similar telephone was
found IN Georgia, and it, too, was sent to,
Boston, wrapped up in cotton and packed
in a case marked use great care 1t re-
sponded in Boston as it had in Georgia,
and it WAS the subject of perhaps more
careful investigation, if possible, than the
Sandusky telephone. It was taken care
fully apart and put carefully together,
but, like the other, It was nothing but q
common telephone after its reconstruc-
ton"
"There certainly Ras," concluded Mr..
Smith, Gin those two telephones some
simple adjustment of the parts, which
was accidently made in the manufacture,
and which was lost in the experiments,
that was the cause of the wonderful
volume of sound which those telephones
gave. 1t IS more than likely that this ad-
justment could be made in many other
telephones, and it is possible thing that
every telephone might be arranged so
that it could be heard without the ear
trumpet being placed to the ear. There
is mint of money for the man who will
make this adjustment"
The HHerse Power of the Sun.
From human history we know that for
several thousand years the sun has been
boot iuh RI rfL, Of